Love conquer everything
by Tolaya
Summary: She didn't know who he was when she met him for the first time in the prison. He never thought he would fall in love with one of her kind when he arrived on her planet. A little story of what love can make us do to follow our desires. - Summary might change a bit as the story develop, the idea has been there for a long time, but it is first now I get the right start to the story.
1. Chapter 1

She looked at the prisoner bound to the far wall of his prison cell with his bare back turned to her. It must have been a painful position and she wondered, as her eyes followed the line of his sleek strong body, if he even knew she was there.

"I can hear you breathing. Have you come to gawk at me as everyone else?" His hoarse, but deep and rumbling voice asked her, and she startled. She had been completely silent as she entered the prison area, there shouldn't have been anything to indicate she was there. How had he sensed her?

"No, I am here in official business, unlike so many others." She answered him and unlocked the cell door to step inside. Walking up to him, she was tempted to touch that bare naked back, feeling for what should have been there, but wasn't. The reason for him to be here.

Giving in to the temptation, her fingers traced along his shoulder blades and down his spine.

Nothing.

No indication of the wings everyone on the planet they inhabited was born with.

She heard him gasp at her touch, but he didn't flinch away as she had expected him to.

"So, what kind of official business are we talking about?" He asked, turning his head slightly to try and gaze at her over his shoulder. His braid of brown hair hindered him and, before she was able to stop herself, she had brushed it away to allow him a look at her.

His startling blue eyes met hers and she marveled in them. Another abomination. Brown eyes were the only eye color their people had. Somehow, something had gone wrong, or this man before her didn't belong among her people or on the planet at all.

"Beautiful." He murmured, his eyes clearly studying her facial lines, and somehow, she was sure, that if he hadn't been restrained, he would have touched her, gently, and maybe more. The fire in his eyes told her that he liked what he saw in her and she fought to not look away from the scrutinizing gaze.

"No more beautiful than the rest of my people." She dismissed the comment casually, the wings on her back, however, betraying her. They lifted a bit, showing to him that she was flattered, at least if he knew how to read the wing language.

Some longing entered the blue eyes at the sight of her wings and she pondered what it must feel to be without wings. She shuddered at the thought of losing hers, it would drive her mad. But she guessed, if you never had had wings, then you wouldn't miss them.

But if that's so, then why did he have that longing look?

The man in front of her became more and more of a mystery.

Shaking her head, driving the distracting thoughts out of her mind, she returned her attention to the matter at hand.

"I'm here to pass judgment on you." She answered his question, moving a bit closer to meet his gaze without him needing to strain his neck.

"And what judgment have the gracious leaders decided?" He asked, curiously studying her with a tilt of his head.

"Your wingless state is a clear offense and can't go unpunished. The penalty is to be castrated to prevent you from spreading your bad genes. That is why I'm here, to carry out the procedure. Do you have any questions?" She explained, seriously, her eyes hardening. This part of the procedure was never easy and the condemned never willingly allowed the removal of their genitalia. She had learned, through many hardships that, giving the men one last chance at pleasure seemed to make them a lot more compliant when they were caught up in the aftershock of the pleasure.

"No." He replied calmly, taking her by surprise. None of the usual begging, none of the last attempts to get out of the restraints, nothing, only calm blue eyes looking at her.

"You do know that I'm about to remove your genitals?" She had to ask, because his reaction was so strange.

"Yes." Still in that calm voice.

Taken aback, feeling on foreign ground, she stared at him.

"Don't look at me like that, little femme, I knew this would happen, so just do what you came to do and get out of here. This is not a place for someone like you." He added when she remained silent, taking her even more by surprise.

It should have made her suspicious, but she was so surprised by this uncommon reaction from him, that her well-honed instincts failed to register to her. Turning to the guards waiting for her orders, they entered the cell and released the prisoner. They moved him to the center of the little cell and forced him to the ground, restraining him in the manacles and the collar in the floor, spreading his legs wide open and preventing him from moving at all.

Still, the prisoner remained calm, willingly following their guidance as they positioned him. His eyes never left hers and her usually unwavering resolve had begun to crack.

"Do you want me to give pleasure before beginning, or should I just begin?" She asked as she knelt down beside him, shaken. Usually she wouldn't ask, but just do it as to not warm him about what would soon be happening.

"Pleasure." He rumbled and a fire began to burn in his eyes, lust filling them. She watched as the fire in his eyes affected his penis, and it stiffened, soon standing fully erect. "I want your mouth around me." He added, before she could ask how he wanted it.

She nodded in accept of his wish and bent to lick at the tip, caressing his penis softly with her tongue. A hiss sounded from him and, emboldened, she took the tip into her mouth.

"Yes!" He groaned viciously, and she felt how his body tensed, imagining how he mindlessly would drive his penis further into her mouth, if he had been capable. It lit a fire inside her and she lost herself to the task of pleasuring him. His last time should be good and intense, something that would make him feel that the loss hadn't been complete.

She continued sucking him for nearly half an hour before his sounds began to change, turning more feral and urgent. His body now nearly convulsed in the merciless restraints and he tried in futility to go deeper and deeper into her to seek more pleasure before he found release.

"Primus!" He cursed vividly just before he came, roaring his release as his seed spilled down her throat. She fought to swallow, the salt taste of his fluids different from the usual taste and when she cleaned away a few drops from around her mouth, she stared at the silvery shine.

"What is this?" She asked with wide eyes, studying the foreign fluid on her fingertips.

"Don't worry about it. I will tell you when I arrive." He answered her cryptically, and then he disappeared, disintegrating into nothing right in front of her eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

Thundercracker groaned satisfied when he returned to his frame. Being immersed in the hologram for so long had been challenging, but he had managed to complete his goal. Transforming for the first time in many weeks, he reveled in the feeling of his wings and the sensation of the sky as he took flight.

Wings meant everything to the organics on this planet, and anyone without was seen as an abomination to be punished. That had been the hardest part of his mission, because flight was just as ingrained a part of him as it were to the organics, but he had needed to get closer to them, to her.

He had seen her the first time he arrived on the planet as she soared in the sky, her pale green skin glinting in the sun the planet rotated around, and he had lost his spark to the sight. So graceful, so elegant. She had flirted with the sky and he had imagined that it had been him she had done it for.

Finding a secluded area on the planet, he had hid himself before creating the hologram and things had happened just as he had planned. However, the long waiting time in the prison had not been calculated into the timeframe, but he had managed to survive without glimpsing the sky once for several weeks.

The moment she entered, he had scented her, and he had fought to remain still, waiting and forcibly willing his spike to not pressurize at the scent of her fragile nearly innocent fragrance. She was far from innocent, he knew that in the daring moves of her flight, but to him, she was as innocent as a newborn. He, in comparison, was a lost cause with all the deaths he had caused during some of the wars on Cybertron.

He wanted her, and bad.

"I can hear you breathing. Have you come to gawk at me as everyone else?" He asked her loudly, his voice hoarse from disuse.

She entered the cell and the intensity of her scent grew nearly insufferable to him. So close, yet still so far away. Once again, he willed his spike to depressurize, and then she touched him, she fragging touched him!

Primus, be mercy!

He turned his helm to stare over his right shoulder, but his hair got in the way and he nearly cursed, only to feel the hair gently be caressed away from his optics. Staring into her brown optics, he realized that every part of her showed the same innocence as her scent. Her expression was soft and gentle, even as she stared at him, the abominable prisoner without wings.

"Beautiful." He couldn't keep the word out of his vocalizer as he stared at her, studying her facial lines and her sparkling optics. She was breathtaking to look at and he itched to touch and caress her, show her his affections.

She casually dismissed his comment without once looking away from him, but he saw her wings lift slightly in response to his praise and knew that even if she didn't want to; she was flattered by his comment. He stared at them longingly, wishing to be back in his true frame and be able to feel the sky and the wind. To be able to dance with her in the sky and show her things only he, with his powerful mechanical frame, would be able to do.

Shaking her helm, she seemed to be gathering her thoughts.

"I'm here to pass judgment on you." She finally announced, and got his full attention as she moved even closer to him.

"And what judgment have the gracious leaders decided?" He asked, curiously studying her with a tilt of his helm.

"Your wingless state is a clear offense and can't go unpunished. The penalty is to be castrated to prevent you from spreading your bad genes. That is why I'm here, to carry out the procedure. Do you have any questions?" She explained to him, seriously, and he saw her optics hardening.

He had known, when he took the wingless form that this would be the result of it, but with the knowledge that she would be there, he had decided to go through with it. He could have chosen a flyer frame to blend in, but that wasn't his main goal. He had only attained a flier frame for as long as it took to gather some information about the society on the planet, then he had changed his hologram to this current abominable wingless figure.

"No." He calmly answered her question, his optics showing nothing as she obviously startled at his passive response.

"You do know that I'm about to remove your genitals?" She asked, clearly to clarify, and he fought a smile as he answered her.

"Yes."

His answer to that clearly took her even more by surprise, and she stared with wide incredulous optics at him.

"Don't look at me like that, little femme, I knew this would happen, so just do what you came to do and get out of here. This is not a place for someone like you." He added as explanation to his calm demeanor.

After a long moment, she clearly collected herself and turned away from him, giving orders to someone, and guards came to relocate him, fastening him to manacles and a collar built into the floor of his cell, disabling any movement. When he was restrained to the floor, she knelt and asked:

"Do you want me to give pleasure before beginning, or should I just begin?" And he shuddered at the thought of her servicing him.

"Pleasure." He rumbled, lust and arousal rising and his spike pressurized. He definitely wouldn't say no to that offer. After a moment, deciding, he added, "I want your mouth around me."

She nodded silently and bent down to lick the tip of his spike, caressing it with the tip of her glossa, and it drew a hiss of pleasure from him. It clearly emboldened her, because the next moment his spike was engulfed by her warm, wet and welcoming mouth.

"Yes!" He groaned viciously, hips fighting against the restraints holding him down as he longed to go deeper into her mouth. His whole frame tensed against the restraints, but they didn't budge.

With her sweet mouth and teasing glossa willingly servicing his spike, she brought him closer and closer to overload, and after ten breems he felt how the pleasure in his frame began to coalesce in his midsection and wander down to add a nearly unbearable pressure behind his spike. He was so close and desperately wanted to go deeper, draw out more of the intense pleasure.

But, then it happened, he exploded.

"Primus!" He cursed vividly as he felt the inevitable final build of charge and the overload claimed him, releasing his coding down her throat in pulsing streams of liquid pleasure from his spike. He would have loved to hold her helm in position to have her take everything he had to offer her, but she retreated after several spurts of his transfluids, spilling the remainder around her mouth to slowly drip down along her face.

He watched her clean some of it away with a touch of her digits and stare at it with wide surprised optics. "What is this?" She asked, testing the viscous fluid between two of her digits in thoughtful contemplation, before looking at him.

"Don't worry about it. I will tell you when I arrive." He answered her, and then deactivated the hologram, vanishing right in front of her optics.


	3. Chapter 3

Moonwing stared with wide incredulous eyes at the manacles and collar that, a second ago, had held the prisoner suspended to the floor. Now they clattered to the floor, the sound loud in the silent room and it startled her into action. She screamed.

The guards outside the room heard her scream, full of fear, and rushed inside, weapons raised and active, but the prisoner was gone and the only one inside the cell was the pale green female Arcwing.

"What happened?" the oldest of the guards asked as he looked around the small cell.

She lifted her gaze from the floor and met his gaze, her wings trembling.

"I don't know. One moment he was here, the next he was gone, vanishing into thin air. I simply don't know." She told him. In her panic she completely forgot her sullied face and the guard knelt as if to clean it away, but she held him back.

"No, don't touch it." She ordered. Seeing the concern in his optics, she sighed in defeat, "I was the one to instigate the intimacy. I know it is far from professional, but-…" she fell silent, staring embarrassed at him, unable to find the right words. It was embarrassing to be caught like this. No one really knew what she did with the prisoners she was sent to deal with, and she knew that this incident would ruin her life, but right now her career was the last thing she thought about.

The guard rose to help her up, and she shakily found her footing.

"What happened?" he asked once again, his voice going soft and he gently forced her head up to look her into the eyes. She met his gaze and was surprised to still see the concern in them. He genuinely cared about her despite her actions and she let out another sigh.

"Would you willingly be castrated?" She asked him, and he shook his head. "I found it easier to deal with the prisoners while they were distracted by pleasure and I wanted to give them something to remember, even if it might end up tormenting them the rest of their lives. I know it was foolish of me." She explained, her gaze wandering around the cell.

"I understand, but the political leaders in Vulcos might not. I hope this incident doesn't harm your reputation too much, Miss." He apologized, knowing very well that she might end up a prisoner herself for this.

"He said something before he vanished. Something about him arriving to tell me what is going on, as if he wasn't really here, but somewhere else. How can you be two places at the same time? How could he just vanish like that?" She mused to him as they walked out of the cell.

"Who knows, but right now you need to get to Vulcos to report this. It is best if you are the one to personally explain this to them. It might save you. Gossip tends to spread fast and this is surely going to cause uproar. If you don't act swiftly, they might demand your sacrifice." He added, looking around, noticing the missing presence of his team mate.

She shuddered at his words.

It was never pleasant to watch someone be sacrificed to their ancient gods of fire and air, and to have her wings ripped from her body before she was thrown into the planet's largest volcano was not a fate she wanted to suffer.

"I will leave immediately." She nodded and thanked him when he followed her outside. She felt his eyes upon her as she took flight and hurried to reach the seat of the rulers in the capital city. It was an hour of flight and if the other guard indeed had left to tell on her, then she needed to use all her strength to get there in time.

She landed in front of the senatorial building forty minutes later, her wings arching and sore from the strenuous flight. Shivering with cold as her blood tried to heat the cooled surface of her skin, she rubbed their surface in an attempt to speed up the recovery before she entered the building housing their political leaders.

Just as she began to walk into the building, the traitorous guard landed beside her, startling her. She met his gaze and he smiled at her arrogantly. She knew that if he managed to pull this through, then he would advance from mere guard-duty at the prison to something more favorable, and her life would end. Sending him a challenging glare, she turned her back to him and walked inside. She would need all her political clout to get through this.

Gaining audience easily, she walked into the center of power, standing in front of the magistrate and the rest of their peoples leaders.

"Why have you petitioned this audience, Arcwing noble, Moonwing, of the house of Starblaze?" The magistrate, an elder grey skinned Arcwing, asked her, his eyes searching her curiously.

At this moment, when she was about to explain her reasons for being there, the guard burst into the room, disturbing the procedure in an attempt to salvage his own plot. He yelled above her explanation and the commotion clearly annoyed everyone present.

"Silence!" The magistrate yelled, and someone drummed for silence.

To Moonwing's displeasure, the guard wasn't thrown out, instead he was given a chance to explain on equal foot as her, but at least she got the chance to do so first. These people knew her, knew that she rarely spoke untrue and it meant that she might still survive this.

Later, after hours of debate, it turned out that the politicians couldn't decide which one of them to trust. The mysticism of it all seemed to baffle them and even if they knew her, it obviously wasn't enough for them to trust and believe her words. It didn't help that the guard told about her degrading interactions with the prisoner, and it clearly repulsed some of them.

In the end they decided to give the final vote to the high priestess and her consort, the spiritual leaders keeping the destructive elements of the planet placated by serving the gods of fire and air.

It was a slap to her face and she trembled with fear as guards led her away. She had just taken a step closer to be sacrificed.


	4. Chapter 4

The palace housing the high priestess and her consort was located at the foot of Vulcos, the volcano the capital-city had taken its name from. It was the largest active volcano on the planet, shadowing the city ominously. Only sacrifices to the gods of fire and air kept the devastating powers of the mountain from burying them all in tons of molten lava whenever the volcano decided to release pressure and spew death and destruction.

Led into the throne room, she was forced to kneel in front of the thrones. Beside her, she heard the guard struggle against being forced to kneel and she sighed, not even able to feel anything but pity for him. No one wanted to be in this position, ever, and she had never thought to find herself in this situation.

Daring a look up, she stared into the high priestess' eyes, the black pupils almost filling them completely. It wasn't a good sign. It meant that the high priestess had taken the ceremonial draught that allowed her to communicate more freely with the gods.

"The balance has been disturbed. The gods are raging, threatening to unleash their displeasure upon us. What have you to say for yourselves?!" The high priestess spoke, her voice full of power.

Moonwing didn't know what to say, and while she hesitated, the guard rose. Staring down at her with disdain, he addressed the high priestess with his vile words, telling everyone present what she had been doing with the prisoner and the sorcery the stranger had performed to vanish from the prison after she had degraded herself by pleasuring him.

"She is the reason for the threat to our people, she needs to be sacrificed to appease the gods and spare us all a horrible death." He had finished, pointing arrogantly down at her to lay weight behind his words.

"Silence!" The consort ordered, and everyone fell silent as the guard reluctantly resumed the kneeling position.

"We will be the ones to decide what action to take. Now, are the accusations true?" The high priestess asked, turning the full attention of the black eyes on Moonwing, and she trembled as she nodded in silent answer. There was no denying the words, they were true, she had degraded herself, the prisoner had used some kind of sorcery to disappear and his presence might anger their gods. It was all true.

"I will have to consult the gods." The high priestess answered, still in that powerful voice. She withdrew a little purse from around her neck and poured several small, smooth stones into the palm of her right hand. They were what remained of their gods' last physical vessel and held great power and connection to them. The runes inscribed into the surface of the stones were meant to tell them the gods' answers to their questions of guidance.

Withdrawing a ceremonial knife, the consort cut the high priestess' left hand and she allowed her blood to drip onto the rune stones, invoking the powers enabling the communication with the higher planes. Lastly, she added smears of her spit onto the surface and threw them into the air to land on the floor among the countless engraved glyphs adoring it.

Walking down the stair to the thrones, the high priestess knelt to study the nearest stone, turning it to show the rune engraved into it and studying the way it had landed near the glyph closest to it.

"He is a stranger." She voiced loudly, curiously studying the glyph and rune more closely, "And powerful. Maybe as powerful as our gods once were." She uttered further, contemplating the message. Then she rose, walking to the next rune and glyph deciphering the message in the combination.

"He is not a threat, but still his actions are going to affect us. Whether it is good or bad is yet to be seen." She added further, moving to the next rune until she had read them all and collected them into the small purse again.

"Their message is contradicting. He isn't a threat, but still a threat. He is a stranger and powerful, maybe enough to destabilize our connection to the gods and destroy us all. What I sense as the right course of action is a sacrifice of twelve innocent hearts and the one instigating this, you Moonwing. You have threatened us all by associating so closely with this stranger and we need to stabilize our connection to the gods to prevent a catastrophe." The high priestess decreed. Her black eyes were merciless as she stared down at the pale green Arcwing noble.

"No. No! I didn't know what he was! How could I know?!" Moonwing begged, frantic, her heart pounding with fear as she struggled to her feet. The next moment she was restricted, her wings chained to prevent her from taking flight and she was led away.

"You can't do this! I have done nothing wrong!" She yelled just before the large doors into the throne room closed and she was led towards the prison down in the palace catacombs where she, in anguished silence, would await the time for her sacrifice.

Collapsing on the hot floor of her cell, she curled into a ball, her wings folding around her and she began to cry. Tears streaked down her cheeks as she wondered why this was happening. Why were the gods punishing her? Had she truly displeased them so?

Left alone in the darkness, she finally had time to think, and the stranger's words resurfaced among all the anguish. He had told her that he would arrive, but what did that mean? Who was he? What did he want with her?

A weak hope began to flutter in her heart as she held onto her only hope, which in a wicked way turned out to be the very reason for her to be in this situation.

Could he save her from her dark fate? Would he find her in time?


	5. Chapter 5

As Thundercracker flew towards Arcron, the city where he had been held prisoner, his thoughts wandered to the pale green femme. The image of her innocence and care imprinted into his processor, he longed to show her what she, in such a short time, had come to mean for him.

The intensity of the feelings suffusing him whenever he thought about her easily rivaled the feelings Starscream and Skywarp had invoked in him when he, eons ago, had pursued them as trinemates. Back then he had felt pride when he finally won their affections. He had done it in front of several other worthy suitors and that had spurred him on in a startling show that had lacked nothing. He had been almost fatigued when he finally landed after cycles in the air, showing them his versatile and cunning abilities.

When Skywarp had teleported in to embrace and then kiss him, his knee-joints had nearly given out under him.

He had thought that it had been love back then, but, with the feelings now suffusing him, he knew that it hadn't been, and their betrayal that had led him to leave Earth to seek his own happiness had been a deep shock.

They had left him to die among their enemies when a fatal shot had sent him crashing and nearly deactivated on the ground. Through fading optics, he had incredulously watched them retreat together with the rest of the Decepticon army, leaving him behind to his fate.

Luckily for him, the Autobots still had honor.

When he had been repaired and released from Ratchet's tender care, he had asked for a meeting with the Prime. At that meeting he had explained his thoughts and his final decision to leave Earth and the war behind, and, surprisingly, the Prime had granted him his wish to be allowed to leave the planet unhindered.

He had kept the bond with his trinemates sealed through his time with the Autobots, even when he had sensed their pings to be let in to communicate. He had had enough of them and it was just another reason for him to leave the planet.

The more distance there were between them, the less he would eventually feel from them, and if the distance was large enough, he hoped they at some point would believe him deactivated. The trinebond was eternal; he would die if he severed it, while they would survive the trauma of the breaking by having each other's sparks to lean on.

Now and then, ever since he left Earth and the pointless war behind, he felt very faint wisps of sensations in his spark, flicker of emotions and feelings from them, and, even if he tried not to, he still worried about them during those times. It had to be strong emotions and feelings to carry through the large distance he had laid between them, and the thought of Starscream suffering at Megatron's servo always made him feel a tiny bit guilty for leaving them.

But, whenever those guilty feelings surfaced, he also remembered that they had betrayed him first.

He could not forgive that. The forging of a trine was something sacred, something to protect. The vow they had given to each other to protect the trine and its members meant that it came before everything else, and in a war, trines tended to fall together, but Starscream and Skywarp had just abandoned him to his fate, as if he meant nothing to them.

It still hurt to think about. He had laid a lot of energy into forming a balanced trine with them, kept them together through times where the war had been rough and they had been on the verge of falling apart. Megatron's regular abuse of the trineleader had been the largest strain on them, and Starscream tended to lash out with anger and rage whenever he came around after a session at the warlord's 'tender care'.

He had done everything he could to prevent it from happening, but Starscream's own stubbornness had ruined any attempt to placate their leader. He had done what he could to keep up his part of the vow to protect his trinemates, to keep it sacred and them whole in a world of madness.

When he had left Earth, Skywarp had followed him. Maybe the Decepticons had detected his departure out of the planet's atmosphere, or his trinemates had sensed something from him through the sealed bond. His feelings had been strong and chaotic when he entered space, hovering above the planet to stare down at the blue orb and what little remained of his people.

The teleporter had intercepted him at the rim of Saturn, and they had had a vicious argument ending with him firing his weapons at what he had considered his former trinemate. They might still be bonded, but they didn't belong to each other anymore.

Skywarp had stared at him in deep shock when one of the projectiles barely missed his left wing. Then the teleporter had tried to explain why they had done what they did, but he had had enough and just wanted to get this over with. Transforming and unleashing a fully charged sonic boom, he had blasted away at high speed, leaving Skywarp to stare wide-opticed after him as he vanished into the nothingness of space. To his relief, the teleporter hadn't followed him, because if Skywarp had pursued him, then he didn't know what he would have done.

Maybe killed them all…

Forcing the dark memories out of his processor with a frustrated growl, he returned his attention to the ground below and the volcano in the far distance. It was strange how the inhabitants of this planet flocked to the many volcanoes on it. On Earth, the humans had kept a wise healthy distance to the destructive forces of their planet's nature, but here, it didn't seem like this people cared about the risk it were.

Arcron, from what he had seen of it during his short time of gathering information, was a middle-sized city with a flourishing population. Most of the activity in the city centered on the many markets where a wide range of sellers offered their wares and of course the many hot springs where the people relaxed when they weren't in the air or worked.

Curious, he had tried one of those hot springs himself and had found the sensation of the warm water pleasing against his skin. It had cleaned away dirt and had removed the disgusting, itching, parasites and germs clinging to his frame. It was then realized how important the hot springs were to their health and understood better why they needed to spend so much time in them.

It also gave him the reason for them to stay this close to the volcanoes, despite the great risk, since the springs originated from the warmth deep down in the underground.

A dusty red female had proposed him while he had relaxed in the water, her optics following the line of his blue nearly luminescent skin, but he had rejected her with a dismissive flicker of his left wing. She had been one of the lower caste fliers on the planet, her frame smaller with more curves and her wings only half the size of an Arcwing's wings, but she had had four and they had fluttered beautifully on her back in a sign of clear interest.

The lower caste fliers were for the most part solely workers, while the Arcwings held higher positions and most were of noble origin.

Even if he had wanted the lower caste femme, he wasn't sure if it was allowed to interbreed between the two subspecies. On Cybertron, it had been seen as degrading to mix coding with a lower caste if you were a noble, and it could be likewise in other cultures as well. The humans hadn't been like that, but they were flawed on so many levels that he didn't even want to consider their ways.


	6. Chapter 6

He landed a short distance away from the outskirts of the city, determined to not cause panic among the inhabitants. Instead he found a suitable shelter for his frame and immersed himself in his undercover hologram.

It was a dangerous move.

This close to the city, the risk of his true frame being discovered was high, but he needed to do this to not scare the life out of her and the other citizens. In time, he would reveal himself to her, when it wouldn't be such a shock.

Taking flight, he found joy in the different way this frame managed to stay airborne and headed towards the center of the city and the heavily guarded prison. Casually landing in front of it with a final flap of his wings, a light brown Arcwing guard met him the instant he touched the ground, weapon slightly raised.

"Identification!" the light brown wings were held high in tension and the tip of the weapon crackled with charge as the guard warily hollered him with the order.

It momentarily stunned him.

Until now, no one had questioned his presence when disguised in the hologram. Something must have happened to put them on edge. Then he remembered his little show inside the prison and face-palmed mentally. Of course they would be on edge after a prisoner vanished like the hologram had inside the cell.

He hesitated, studying the guard's nervous stance and wing language, while he in his processor fought to find a solution to the situation. He didn't know what was required as identification. Just a designation or did he need to give more information? What designation should he provide?

It must have taken too long for him to respond. The tip of the weapon poked him after a few kliks of silence and he roared, both in shock and pain, and acted on pure instinct. In a matter of nano-kliks he had disarmed the guard, holding the weapon trained at and nearly touching the other Arcwing's throat.

"So unwise," he growled threateningly, anger and frustration intermingling.

The commotion between them drew the other guards' attention and he soon found himself surrounded. Realizing that this wasn't going as planned, he deactivated the weapon and let it clatter to the ground. He refrained from lifting his servos in a sign of surrender; it would just send the signal to the guards holding him at gunpoint that he was guilty of something. Instead he lifted his chin and stared arrogantly at the guards in his line of sight.

"What's going on out here?!" the voice belonged to a light grey elder-looking guard and Thundercracker recognized him as one of the guards that had followed and assisted the femme inside his cell.

"Captain, this man won't identify himself." The guard he had disarmed said, and he watched him warily collect the weapon from the ground before taking a step back to be out of range of him. The sight made him smile, his dentas glinting dangerously, and it clearly unnerved the nervous guard even more.

"Weapons down!" The captain ordered and was instantly obeyed. Thundercracker met the brown gaze unflinchingly when the light-grey flyer walked closer. He appraised the captain with a glance down the worn frame, noticing the strength in the confident and relaxed wings on the man's back.

"I apologize for the disturbance. I can see that you are busy, but I insist to speak with the executive." He stated urgently, hoping to be let in without needing to go through the official procedures.

"What interest do you have in her?" The captain asked, and Thundercracker saw his optics narrow in a clear sign of distrust. It didn't look good. His disappearance must truly have spooked them.

"Personal matter. I just need to talk to her. Where is she?" He explained, his wings twitching. He saw the optics narrow further in suspicion and could imagine the thoughts filling the captain's processor. He knew that his behavior might be off for a higher ranking Arcwing, and, on a hunch, added a haughty arrogant stance to his words, his wings lifting and spreading slightly to pose himself as larger and more intimidating.

He saw a dark emotion flicker in the captain's brown optics at his attempt to salvage the situation, and expected the next thing to be the feeling of a fully charged weapon touching his back. But, much to his surprise, the captain just nodded in accept and beckoned for him to follow him inside the prison. With the worry in his spark lifting a tiny bit, he silently followed as he was led into a large hall and further down several corridors. The captain stopped in front of a door and unlocked it.

They stopped in front of a door and, after unlocking it, the captain beckoned for him to enter. Too occupied by thoughts to pay attention to his instincts, he entered, unaware of the danger of the situation. It was first when he had stepped inside and realized that the room was an empty high-security cell that his screaming instincts got through to him, but then it was already too late.

The next moment he felt excruciating pain shoot through his frame and he collapsed to the floor, thrashing in violent involuntary spasms as the electricity from the weapon forced between his wings disabled him. He sensed the captain kneel beside him, still with the weapon sending intense agony through him and felt a servo on his helm. He was forced to meet the brown optics, now merciless and full of anger as they stared down at him.

"You can't fool me a second time, stranger. Because of you, Moonwing is in grave danger and I won't let you get away with what you have done. This time you won't escape, and I'm going to enjoy watching you die, because you deserve nothing else." The captain whispered into his audio, adding more power to the weapon and Thundercracker screamed in agony.

His heart would soon give up under the continued onslaught from the weapon and, if this hadn't been a hologram, then he would die. Organic frames were always so extremely delicate. He had suffered through torture worse than this, but the pain felt by this organic frame seemed to transmit directly to his processor, instead of going through buffers installed in his true frame. It completely disabled him, preventing him from doing anything.

He felt his heart begin to stutter and knew that he had to make a last attempt.

"Where is she?!" he grit out through the intense pain keeping him paralyzed.

"You don't need to know. You won't get near her ever again. I'm going to make sure of that!" The malice in the captain's words filled Thundercracker with rage, and the next instant he deactivated the hologram. Returning to his frame, he rose from where he had hid outside the city, roaring out his anger.

Maybe it was time to pay them a real visit to show them who they were dealing with.


	7. Chapter 7

Transforming into his tetrajet, Thundercracker flew into the city. Passing the large volcano and entering the flourishing airspace, he felt a perverse satisfaction at seeing the smaller organic fliers flee in panic when his large frame shadowed the sky above them. They would cower in fear at the sight of him, or he would teach them to.

Their meager weapon technology was nothing compared to him, and their electrical spears would only tickle and charge his systems with energy. They had nothing that could stop him from unleashing his wrath upon them.

Screams of fear filled the air as he flew towards the center of the city and the prison. The closer he got to his destination, the more militarized fliers entered the air in a futile attempt to repel and drive him away from the civilian populace.

He could so easily kill them, but he didn't. They weren't a threat to him and thus he ignored them as they flocked around him, using their pathetic weapons against his plating.

Finally hovering above the prison, blocking out the sunlight in a wide area surrounding the large building, his sensors picked up the frantic heartbeats from the guards gathered on the ground in front of it. Singling out his target among the group, he transformed slowly, his thrusters keeping him airborne as he looked down at the captain of the prison guard.

As he slowly descended towards the ground, many of the gathered fliers scrambled to not be crushed beneath him, and he knelt down on one knee to stare menacingly down at the light-grey Arcwing.

"I ask you one last time." He began in the native language, his wings spreading wide and high on his back as an ominous threat, "Where is she?!"

The captain trembled. His wings were lowered and flat against his back, while his wide eyes showed fear as he stared up at the imposing sight of the alien stranger crouching menacingly in front of him.

Nearly a breem of silence passed between them before Thundercracker impatiently reached down and lifted the organic, bringing him to optic-level. Holding the fragile frame in his servo, he carefully tightened his grip to prevent any sudden move as he rose to stand at his full height. In the flyer's current condition, he worried that the Arcwing might be too paralyzed with shock to use his wings should he make a sudden move to escape and topple off of the high-held servo.

"What is your designation?" He asked, gentler, in an attempt to ease some of the paralyzing fear. It didn't help him if the captain was too traumatized by the sight of him to answer his questions, and some friendliness might just make this easier for both of them.

Several long kliks passed, but then he heard the very faint, "Clearsky." Life slowly returned to the wide fear-filled brown optics, and he saw the flyer study him warily.

"Now, Clearsky. I know we have had a bad start, which mainly is my fault. All I want to know is where the executive is. I'm not going to hurt her, I just want to talk to her. Okay?" He explained, slowly, to make sure the captain understood his sincerity.

"I'm not here to hurt anyone." He added as reassurance.

He saw the brown optics offline and online in rapid session as the captain digested his words, the man's glossa nervously licking his lips.

"What are you?" Clearsky asked after a long moment, gathering all his courage to ask the question and daring a glance to the large blue expanses on the stranger's back. Were those wings?

"I'm a Seeker from the planet Cybertron." Thundercracker answered the question casually, noticing the glance to his wings. He flickered them and watched amused the surprise in the flyer's optics.

"And your purpose?" Clearsky added hesitantly. His eyes reluctantly left the 'wings' to stare down the rest of the stranger's large body.

"The executive." Thundercracker stated simply, not elaborating further.

The brown optics widened and for the first time they met his red gaze, fear still visible in them, but he saw curiosity as well.

"Why are you so interested in Moonwing?" Clearsky asked, confused. Why did the stranger focus so intently on the pale green Arcwing noble?

"That is a personal matter I only will discuss with her, which is why I need to see her. You keep stalling, what has happened? Where is she?" Thundercracker asked, strictly, canting his helm as he studied the slowly relaxing wings on Clearsky's back.

"She is probably in Vulcos right now. She didn't take your disappearance well, and when we entered, hearing her scream, we saw the condition she was in. Your show revealed a flaw in her treatment of the prisoners she visits and my fellow guard intends to use it to further his career. She had to leave immediately to try to arrive before him. I don't know what will happen if she doesn't succeed." Clearsky reluctantly explained, his wings trembling. Would the stranger strike out at him for this? He had stalled and had nearly killed the stranger's native form.

Thundercracker growled and his servo tightened slightly around Clearsky, but hearing the gasp of pain from the Arcwing, he eased it. "Sorry. I didn't intend to hurt you." He apologized, releasing the grip around the man completely to let him free in the center of his palm.

Clearsky rose to stand and he looked up at the stranger with a curious gaze. With the worst of his fear gone, he now took the time to study the other more clearly. He saw the worry so visibly displayed in the pale face and recognized the dimming of the strange eyes as another sign of feelings. Then he diverted his gaze and looked down, staring with wide eyes as he realized how high he actually was.

"Fire and sky forsake me, you are huge!" He uttered in his surprise.

"Do you want to be let down?" Thundercracker asked with a little smile.

Clearsky flapped his wings, sending a little shy smile in return, "No, I can manage."

"It seems that I will have to go to Vulcos. Care to follow and guide me?!" Thundercracker asked, glancing around. He knew some about the planet, but he had only been to this city. It wouldn't do to waste time trying to locate this other city, especially if the femme truly was in danger.

"It shouldn't take long for you to get there with your size, but I will escort you if you really want me to." Clearsky added as he nodded in consent, "I just need to talk to my subordinates and delegate some orders, but then I'm free to go with you." He explained, moving to jump off of the large hand and into the air, flapping his wings as he slowly began to descent.


	8. Chapter 8

Thundercracker heard the loud exclamations of relief when Clearsky landed among the other guards and they flocked around him, clearly to be reassured that their captain was okay and hadn't been hurt by the large dangerous-looking stranger.

"I'm okay. I'm fine. He might be huge, but he seems to be friendly." He heard the captain explain to reassure them and smiled a bit. The smile, however, soon stiffened as his thoughts began to wander.

If he still had been a Decepticon, the light-grey Arcwing wouldn't be this relaxed and friendly around him, instead Clearsky would have feared him, just as he initially had wanted him to as he entered the city. His dark past began to fill his processor as he remembered all the planets he had helped conquer and inevitably destroy in Megatron's unlimited conquest for power.

Staring down at Clearsky, he began to ask himself some serious questions about his own motivations throughout the wars he had participated in. He knew that most of it stemmed from his deep connection with his trinemates, but was that an excuse to mindlessly follow orders and participate in the slaughter of species weaker than him?

He had been following orders without thinking and had viewed most species the Decepticons encountered as inferior insects that deserved to die. The realization hit him hard and filled him with guilt. Mindless slaughter was something Skywarp did, not him, or he hadn't thought he did. Why hadn't he realized this earlier? Why hadn't he left earlier? Had his trinemates' betrayal been the desperately needed excuse for him to finally make the decision he should have made so long ago?

A light weight landed on his servo again and drew him from his troubled thoughts. He looked down and saw Clearsky standing there, little helm crooked to the side, studying him interested. His guilt tore at his spark as he stared into the calm and surprisingly trusting brown optics.

"So, what's your name?" The Arcwing asked.

"Thundercracker." He responded as he fought to not let the guilt drown him.

"A powerful name. I think it fits you, but of course I don't know anything about you and your people." Clearsky answered, his wings fanning relaxed. "Shall we leave?"

He decided at that moment, that he truly liked the man. Clearsky coped surprisingly well with all the strangeness of the situation. He recovered fast and seemed completely unafraid when he was certain that his life wasn't at stake. It was so rare to experience an inferior specie willingly reach out to him like the man in his servo just had done and in addition, without any sign of fear, wanting to leave with him to help him find the missing femme.

"Yes, but I do advice that you tell your subordinates to seek cover, since my take-off isn't gentle. I don't want them to get hurt." He answered, kneeling and letting Clearsky jump down from his servo at an acceptable height. He watched the other guards seek shelter inside the prison and when the door had closed behind them, he lifted the light-grey Arcwing gently as he rose again.

"For your protection, I suggest you travel inside me." He added to Clearsky's startled expression and saw only confusion at his words.

"Inside you?" The Arcwing asked, brown optics wide. "You can carry others inside you?!"

He was about to rhetorically ask if the man trusted him, but then refrained from it. They had just met, and their beginning hadn't been the perfect start of a friendship. He didn't expect such trust from the Arcwing yet. Instead he just transformed, slowly, to allow Clearsky time to follow the movement of his frame as he shifted into his earthen alt-mode.

When the transformation was done, Clearsky found himself seated inside a strange cramped room with glass as roof. Touching it, he felt a strange pulsation and instantly withdrew his hand.

"What is this?" He asked, puzzled, looking around.

"That is my cockpit glass. This form belongs to the last planet I visited. My natural transformation would not allow you any space and isn't as protected as this one. The natives of that planet are organics just like your people, but without wings. Instead they fly in these things. Inside me like this, you are able to breathe and guide me while I fly. The only thing I ask of you is to refrain from touching the interior unnecessarily." Thundercracker explained, his voice echoing all around Clearsky, and the Arcwing jolted at the sound, turning this and that way to locate the origin.

"Okay." Clearsky answered, still puzzled, and curiously touched one of the blinking things in front of him to examine it. It caused a shudder to reverberate through the whole room he sat in, and he heard something in the back create a large roaring noise of some kind that ended in a splutter.

Thundercracker shuddered as the Arcwing did what he just had asked him not to do. His engine spluttered at the ticklish touch and he had to take a moment to collect his wit before igniting his thrusters and take off. It was a strange feeling to have a passenger inside him, something he never had experienced before, but it was necessary if he wanted to get to the femme as fast as possible. For her, he could ignore the uneasiness at the situation and he listened seriously when Clearsky began to guide him in the right direction.

Banking to his right, he added full power to his thrusters and soon gained top speed. The sonic boom, as he broke the speed of sound several times over, reverberated all over the city, echoing back as it bounced against the wall of the volcano.

She might be in danger as Clearsky had stated.

He needed to be fast if that was the case.


End file.
